Just when you thought you were being protected

The PATRIOT ACT ought to take care of your worries, eh?

I learned a lot of things [...] -- not counting the almost unbelievable corruption and stupidity of your average Dixiepublican, which I already knew about.

I learned that weapons-grade uranium is the nuclear feedstock, so to speak, for a number of medical isotopes.

I learned that the companies that make those isotopes operate their own private reactors, using uranium purchased from the U.S. government.

And I learned that those reactors are not, repeat not, subject to the same security restrictions as government-owned megadeath factories:

By contrast, Nordion already has enough highly enriched uranium to make one or two Hiroshima-size bombs, and its factories do not have to meet the same security standards as Energy Department facilities.

Nordion is the Canadian company that purchased the export loophole in the energy bill -- which, under the circumstances, we might reasonably call the "Arm Osama Amendment."

[...]

But the low-grade isotope production method is more expensive than the old-fashioned Hiroshima-based process -- and obviously, we can't let nonproliferation or the war on terrorism (slap) struggle against violent extremism get in the way of the profitability of the Canadian medical industry, or of Sen. Burr's campaign fund:

Since 2003, the Alpine Group's main energy lobbyists -- James D. Massie, Richard C. White and Rhod Shaw -- have contributed more than $25,000 to members of the energy committees, and nuclear medicine trade groups have donated tens of thousands more.

But these days you can't examine the remains of a Dixiepublican feeding frenzy without finding at least a couple of sleazy Republicrats picking at the scraps. In this case, the nuclear carrion eater is Sen. Blanche "I have always depended on the kindness of lobbyists" Lincoln, who graciously agreed to co-sponsor the Arm Osama Amendment.

"To be able to provide the hope to those who suffer from these diseases is so critically important," Lincoln told colleagues.

I'm sure Dr. Zawahiri would agree.

  Billmon post